“Certification is building a foundation for your future.”
UCSC Extension instructors took their professional passions for sustainable procurement and professional licensing to wider audiences this week in presentations at the annual CAPPO conference in Sacramento.
CAPPO, a nonprofit organization formed in 1915, is the oldest public procurement professional organization in the U.S. and draws industry leaders from all over state.
At the helm this year as CAPPO president, has been Darryl Sweet, CPSM, C.P.M., the director of business services at UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco where he manages the college’s purchasing and contracting functions. Sweet is also a new instructor at Extension. He’ll be co-teaching a new course, Technology Impacts in the Supply Chain, with Darin Matthews, CPPO, CPSM, Procurement and Supply Chain Management certificate program chair, starting Feb. 26.
Professional Certification & Your Career
At CAPPO, Sweet gave a presentation on Professional Certification & Your Career. It’s part of a greater mission to advance professionalism in the industry, he says.
Some of the industry’s top certifications include Certified Public Procurement Officer (CPPO), Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB), and Certified Professional in Supply Management® (CPSM®). Only 16–18 percent of CAPPO members are certified.
“We want to give people a boost to continue working toward professional certification,” Sweet says, noting that it can result in a salary boost and lead to great networking opportunities.
The organization is working to establish a clearer career path for professionals in the industry and emphasize the need for people in leadership positions to have certification. Certification is building a foundation for your future and for the future of the organization you’re working for, Sweet says.
“The importance on the personal side is that you know you’re learning,” he says. “It adds credibility to the position and the department.”
Sustainable Procurement Strategies
Also at CAPPO, Matthews, director of Procurement & Supply Chain Services for University of California, Santa Cruz, gave a presentation on sustainable procurement strategies, by sharing many of the best practices at his day job.
“We’re doing a lot of things at UCSC that are exciting,” Matthews says, noting that the campus was one of the first to includes sustainability in the selection criteria for all RFPs.
“The commitment to local Santa Cruz businesses and buying local help strengthen community ties and supports the local economy and local jobs,” he says. About 25 percent of procured goods and service are locally purchased.
The campus is also the only University of California campus so far to have committed to purchasing safe nontoxic furniture for classrooms and offices and buys green cleaning products for the buildings and classrooms.
Matthews is co-chair of the Sustainable Procurement Working Group for UC and teaches several courses in the certificate program, including Evolving Role of Supply Chain Management (starting Jan. 22 and again on April 9) Sustainable Supply Chain Strategies (starting May 14).
As a leader in sustainability procurement practices UCSC would like to share with others about what is possible for their organization,” Matthews says. “We have proof that it doesn’t cost you more to make sustainable choices.”
Learn more about the UCSC Extension Procurement and Supply Chain Management certificate program.